My spring yard clean up is interfering with my dusting! So much to do and so little time.

No, I am not doing any yard work in the middle of the night. But the lure of the outdoors was so strong this weekend that I had to get out there and spruce things up.

Last year's curbside finds were looking VERY trashy to me out there in the yard so I took a load of the junkiest junk to the dump and started rearranging the rest~ Not best, just the rest.

Also hit several Estate Sales and will share some of my finds later this week.

But today I thought I would finish with the collections on the green cupboard that I dusted the other day.




This general store jar has pretty carmel and brown colored shirt buttons and some dice. I have a weakness for dice.

Behind the jar are some old leather books. I use old books as props in almost all of my displays. You may have noticed that already.




These are iron whatsits. I have no idea what they are, but they are HEAVY, HEAVY, HEAVY.




As children, both I and and later my daughter collected what I always thought were "fossilized fish vertebrae" from the shores of Lake Michigan. As an adult I have been told that they are crinoids.

Which they are, I'm not sure, but they along with driftwood, sea glass, and pretty rocks were the things I stuffed in my pockets for the bike ride home from the beach each day in the summer.

Some of these I have had for over 50 years.




Another tin lidded general store jar with rummage sale candles. More of those creamy, carmel tones that I find so peaceful to live with.




I am sure these tablets "regulated" something. I am not sure we want to know what.

We will leave dusting for a while and move on to some other things tomorrow.

For the love of a lamp, I can be reduced to begging.

Just a hint! Never be the driver when you are Estate Sale shopping with your competitive antiques dealer buddies. While you are parking the car they are buying everything worth having!!!!!

That is what happened to me years ago and the chickens in the picture below were involved. By the time I got TO the Estate Sale my friends were already leaving~ one of them with these chickens in his hot little hands. The chicken are a lamp! A lamp I LOVED. I am sure HE got the lamp at a great price, but I had to HAVE it and was reduced to BEGGING!

I have never been sorry that I bought it from him {I don't even remember what the price was}, but I NEVER drove my competition around again!




In the background of the photo is one of my old oil paintings of fruit. Another collection. I have several oil fruit paintings of various qualities~ this one is probably the best.




The little sleeping pig is a ceramic bank. I have a couple ceramic piggy-banks. He is the cutest.




Here is a closer look. The money slot is on his back. He doesn't have any money in him. If he did, it would be staying there because the only way to get it out would be to break him. Can you imagine? What a waste of a darling little guy.




These are plaster-like eggs inside an old general store jar. The eggs are what I have always called "hen-encouragers." After farmers took the real eggs they replaced them with "fake" eggs. The idea was to encourage the hens to continue laying more eggs. I don't know if it worked or not. I don't think farmers do it anymore. I have owned and sold old "hen-encouragers" in ceramic, glass, and wood.




This is another old general store jar with a tin lid. This one has some bay leaves, nest stuff, real dried eggs and oranges in it. These old tin-lidded glass general store jars are the only kind I collect/keep. I have a nice collection of general store jars now, and have never had them for sale. Anymore you only see them at better country antiques shows/shops. I haven't seen one for sale at an Estate Sale in years. The last one I found didn't even have a lid, but I bought it anyway.

There have been several versions of this type of jar reproduced, but the originals have handmade tin tops, are made of hand blown glass or old molded glass with seam lines. They are always clear glass that does NOT have a bluish tint.

All of these things are sitting on an old green storage cupboard that I bought in a Wisconsin shop. It was part of an Estate of a country collector whose family didn't like "Country" furniture. Goody, for me.

I continue dusting. I mean I am REALLY dusting~ I am taking everything off the surfaces, dusting and rearranging. So far it has been very rewarding.... it has literally been years since I have done this. I will keep dusting and photographing and sharing for as long as my allergies can stand it. Or if you can't stand it anymore!!!

I will know you have had it when my follower and visitor numbers start dropping like a stone. You could tell me to cut it out if you want to before that happens though.